Rabbi David Tebele

The gaon Rabbi David Tebele was great in Torah and famous in his generation, becoming the Rav and Av Beit Din of the great town of Lissa.

Rabbi David was born to the gaon Rabbi Nathan Neta Tebele, the Av Beit Din of Brody, and he descended from the great gaon Rabbi Zecharia Mendel of Belz, the author of Beer Heitev on the Shulchan Aruch. He was also a descendant of Rabbi Aryeh Leib Hagadol, the Av Beit Din of Krakow. In fact the mark of these gaonim was visible in Rabbi David early on in life, since in his youth people could see that he had been born for greatness. He was constantly studying the holy Torah, wherein nothing was hidden from him.

Rabbi David was the Av Beit Din of the towns of Horachow and Lissa, and his name became connected to these towns throughout his life. With his great intellect, he knew how to move mountains and break rocks using his hypotheses and arguments. However the essential part of his renown came to him as a Rav and Posek for the entire Diaspora. From all corners of the globe, people came to him for his judgments and to seek out Hashem’s word, meaning the Halachah. If a litigant would not accept his decision, the hand of Hashem would come down on him. Rabbi David was once asked if he punished people, to which he candidly replied: “The word of Hashem is the Halachah, and if one fails to listen to Hashem, it is Hashem Who punishes.”

During his lifetime, Rabbi David fought against those who wanted to introduce the ideas of the enlightenment to the Jewish people. For this purpose he often met the great Torah figures of the generation, including the Noda B’Yehuda (Rabbi Yechezkel Landau), Rabbi Meir Posner, and Rabbi Akiva Eiger. On Tevet 16, 5552, Rabbi David Tebele left this world for the celestial academy.